He blew his mind out in a car

In complete desperation of cleansing myself of the conversation I had with my roommate last night, we have this post. To sum up the situation, roomie is a hardcore christian conservative. He belongs to a country club. His younger brother works as an intern at the White House. Basically a good German and all around nice guy.

Last night he was regaling me with tales of Rush Limbaugh's hilarious mocking of those losers who believe in global warming. Sometime after that I found myself saying something like "Well you know, Al Gore is kind of out there, but that doesn't mean global warming doesn't exist." Jesus tap-dancing Christ thats lame. At least later I shocked him with the news that I would prefer Gore as president.

Anyway, I still feel like a complete shit for how I handled the whole situation -- why should I censor myself to spare his feelings? It's not helping anyone. So as some sort of godless communist recompense I'm running down a list of subversive bands that are popular despite their damning of the man.

The Offspring OK we're starting off kind of weak. I don't think Why don't you get a job is going to inspire anyone to revolution. But they enjoy a special place in my heart just because of their performance at Woodstock 99. They brought out effigies of the backstreet boys and beat the hell out of them. Later the crowd went complete apeshit and the sky was filled with plastic bottles. The Kids Aren't All Right was an amazing ... HOLY CRAP I CAN'T BELIEVE I WAS IN THAT CROWD


Marilyn Manson
"Capitalism has made it this way, Old-fashioned fascism will take it away"
-The Beautiful People
Thats more like it. There's not much more to say. I know he's not everyone's cup of tea. But you gotta respect a man who combined the names of the most famous sex object with the most famous murderer. I'm going to resist posting any images or videos, cause they are weally scawy. edit: Nevermind, here's Charlie

The Arcade Fire
"Ain't much chance for survival if the neon bible is right."
Gotta represent for the indies. One look at their song titles tells you all you need to know [Antichrist Television Blues] Not to mention that that song's first two verses are a allegory for 9/11 before going into how his little girl is getting warped by society. Neon Bible is the best album I've purchased in the past year and half. Although Cold War Kids are creeping up on the outside.

Here's a video of Arcade Fire playing the album's title track in an elevator. Note the use of ripping.


Tool
"Some say the end is near. Some say we'll see armageddon soon. I certainly hope we will. I sure could use a vacation from this bullshit three ring circus sideshow of freaks here in this hopeless fucking hole we call LA. The only way to fix it is to flush it all away. Any fucking time. Any fucking day. Learn to swim, I'll see you down in Arizona bay. Fret for your figure and Fret for your latte and Fret for your hairpiece and Fret for your lawsuit and Fret for your prozac and Fret for your pilot and Fret for your contract and Fret for your car." -Ænema
Well that's certainly uplifting. Here it is in video form. Nope, not weird at all. Maynard hates drugs.

Nine Inch Nails The most subversive of all. Government, god, societal mores, american culture, nothing escapes the ire of Trent Reznor. I particularly enjoy the most recent effort, Year Zero, which has been mentioned before in this space.

To recap: It's a concept album set in an fascist future. It's got everything covered, power-hungry godheads, helpless plebes, good soldiers, the whole sordid scene from start to finish. This is not to ignore his earlier work, which was plenty subversive in itself. NIN had a song called "Heresy" for christsake. But the maturity and focus of incendiary lyrics on Year Zero really is something to behold.

I think this video for the first single "Survivalism" gets my point across. I was hoping for a video for Capital G, but alas only fanvids are available.


Ahh I feel much better. Sorry I didn't mention rage.